India, Uzbekistan to work in tandem for agri growth

New Delhi : Stressing on strengthening bilateral cooperation in agriculture with Uzbekistan, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Wednesday said that both countries work in tandem to realise the agrarian commitments of both the nations. During a meeting with Uzbekistan Deputy Prime Minister Suhrob Kholmuradov, Singh said that India has become one of the most preferred investment destinations of the world.

“India is registering a tremendous progress in the agriculture sector. The government is committed to double farmers’ income by 2022 through a series of reforms such as soil health card, organic farming, crop insurance, irrigation, eNAM, etc,” the minister said.

Singh further said, “We are ready to partner with Uzbekistan in providing training and sharing expertise in skill development, effective and optimum use of water for drylands, integrated farming systems, mechanisation and farm machinery.”

Singh also offered Uzbekistan to provide training for the development of greenhouse with the help of centre of excellence (CoE). India is currently importing moong, natural gum, walnut, chickpeas, and juices from Uzbekistan. Singh also urged Suhrob to also consider importing mango, potato, wheat, meslin, sugar, etc from the country. Singh also stressed on the importance of constitution of agricultural clusters for small and marginal farmers and fragmented land holdings and offered to share India’s experience in the formation of FPOs and cooperatives in order to ensure better returns to farmers.